The present invention relates to heavy duty drive systems e.g. for ships and move particularly to improvements in such systems which include a drive engine or motor, a transmission gear, e.g. a reducing gear, an elastic coupling and interconnect means between the transmission gear input shaft and the motor or engine output shaft.
A drive system of that type is for example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,230. The system serves in particular for occasionally driving the propellor shaft of the ship via a resilient clutch, but an auxiliary generator is continuously driven via a power and torque branching system included in the transmission path from the engine to the reducing gear. The resilient clutch has an inner ring as rotary output which is seated on a pinion (input) shaft for the reducing gear, whose output drives the propellor. The clutch is used for power branching to obtain the aforementioned dual drive function. This branching train includes also an elastic coupling having concentric input and output parts which are interconnected by means of a rubber elastic element.
The present invention, therefore, relates also to improvements in a torque transmission system which permits such power branching. A heavy duty system of that kind has bearings for the engine or motor shaft and bearings for the transmission shafts, gears, etc. The interconnect system between them must be supported by one or the other. The known systems require that the motor or engine shaft and its bearings support the interconnect structure between transmission and motor or engine to a considerable extent. As to this it has to be observed, that some or even significant radial displacement may occur between reducing gear and motor shaft. Such radial displacements between engine and reducing gear will be observed when the motor or engine itself is elastically mounted or if the foundation itself has some degree of softness. Another cause for such a displacement is to be seen in thermal expansion of the engine frame or mount and of the casing for the reducing gear (in which the gears and shafts are journalled). If the engine has a crank shaft, radial displacements between it and the gear may become particularly disturbing. It is necessary that such displacement does not affect, or very little, the motor or engine shaft bearings.